HealthSource RI data show older enrollees still a majority

By Harold Ambler PBN Contributing Writer

During the first four days of January, after the Dec. 31 deadline to select a plan for coverage beginning Jan. 1 had passed, another 465 people enrolled in private plans through Rhode Island’s health care exchange, bringing the total number of HealthSource RI enrollments to 11,770.

PROVIDENCE – During the first four days of January, after the Dec. 31 deadline to select a plan for coverage beginning Jan. 1 had passed, another 465 people enrolled in private plans through Rhode Island’s health care exchange, bringing the total number of HealthSource RI enrollments to 11,770.

The deadline for enrollees to pay their first premiums was Jan. 8, but as of that date, 9,902 had paid.

Open enrollment on the individual market (including plans for individuals and families) will remain open until March 31, 2014, after which individuals without coverage will be subject to federal penalties. Individuals who did not enroll and pay before the deadline for Jan. 1 coverage must sign up by Jan. 23 for coverage beginning Feb. 1, according to HealthSource RI spokeswoman Dara Chadwick.

In addition to reporting the private-plan enrollments, HealthSource RI also confirmed the number of Medicaid enrollments as of Jan. 4, which numbered 19,941 according to the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

Of the 925 small employers who initiated an application since small-business enrollment began in mid-November, 75 completed enrollment. Those 75 small employers represent 530 covered individuals, HealthSource RI said.

Notably, the Jan. 4 data showed that individuals age 45 and older continue to represent a significant percentage of private-plan enrollees. A total of 6,626 enrollees, or 56 percent of the 11,770 individual and family plan enrollees, fell in the 45-54 and 55 and older age categories. That percent fell slightly compared with the Nov. 30 data, however, when those age categories made up 64 percent of total enrollees.

Still not released in Monday’s report were back-end data relating to how successfully the exchange is transferring enrollee information to insurers and whether people attempting to enroll have faced technical problems in the application process similar to the problems that have plagued the federal health exchange website, HealthCare.gov.

It also was not clear by the data released how many of the paid enrollments were for individuals who did not have insurance prior to enrolling through HealthSource RI, and an exchange spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for that information.

Based on the enrollment by carrier, it looks like the state has created an $85,000,000 portal to the Blue Cross web site and will require $24,000,000 per year to keep it running. Why didn't BCBS just build a few pages on their site to accept Obamacare? With basically a single carrier, does Healthsource RI really need to exist? I would think the union people would be interested to know these facts.

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